Last Minute Iftar Ideas – Crispy Chicken Tacos

Its almost the end of Ramadan and I cannot imagine how fast this month has gone through. Feasting on delicacies and indulging in sinful meals this month, has seen what you’d normally need a whole year to go through. Its never too much, sharing meals with your loved ones and cooking for those you care about. However thinking of what to cook for Iftar / Fast breaking, is somehow one of the toughest things to do … you always need new ideas, or rather just a reminder of something you already know but can’t think of at the right time. With 2 days to go and 2 more Iftar’s to prepare, let me share this quick easy peasy recipe I made yesterday. Fried food has kinda been a staple this month, but a refreshing crunchy salad & the salsa, kind of brings the balance to these Crispy Chicken Tacos, and to give it that twist, I’ve drizzled it a Thai Mayo Sauce. The tortillas are home made too … you could go for the ready made ones which are the available all over the place, but if you’re Mexican or Indian, you probably can roll these out faster than going to the store to buy them. And nothing beats homemade. For a healthier version you can bake the chicken, in the oven. For vegetarian versions, use panner or firm tofu.

Ingredients

For the Chicken

400gms thigh boneless chicken, cut into strips

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon chicken adobo powder ( this is very salty so you needn’t add any salt to the meat )

1 tsp sweet paprika

2 eggs

salt to taste

Panko/ any bread crumbs would work

oil to deep fry

Marinate the chicken strips in the dry spices and set aside for 20 mins.

The Tortilla

2 cups flour – 3parts white flour, 1 part wholewheat flour

1 tablespoon oil

sait to taste

water to knead

In a big bowl, mix together the salt flour and oil. Take enough water to form a pliable soft dough. Set aside for 10 mins.Roll out small balls for the entire dough. Flour the board and with a rolling pin roll out thin circular discs, not too big, but just the size you’d like your taco to be. Take a frying pan and toast the disc/tortillas/roti’s on both side till cooked though. Prepare tortillas and stack them up keeping them covered till ready to use.

When you’re ready to serve, deep fry the chicken. Beat the two eggs well, season with salt and add them to the sliced chicken. Mix it all well making sure the egg coats all of the chicken. Roll out in the Panko, getting a decent coating of the breadcrumbs over the chicken. Deep fry till cooked through and golden brown on the outside. Drain on kitchen towel.

Heat the tortillas in the microwave for about 10 seconds. Lay them all out , and put equal amounts of chicken in all. Top with the shredded lettuce and cabbage. Add some salsa on top of each tortilla and finish off by drizzling some sauce over it. Fold each taco and serve in a platter.